Battle Begins on Lexington Common

Primary Source

Letter from Jonas Clarke's daughter Betty, who was 11 years old in 1775

Lexington, April 19, 1841

My dear niece Lucy Allen:

[T]his day ... is sixty six years since the war began on the Common which I now can see from this window as here I sit writing, and can see, in my mind, just as plain, all the British Troops marching off the Common to Concord, and the whole scene, how Aunt Hancock and Miss Dolly Quinsy [John Hancock's aunt and fiance, who were also staying with the Clarke family at the time of the battle], with their cloaks and bonnets on, Aunt Crying and ringing her hands and helping Mother Dress the children, Dolly going round with Father, to hide Money, watches and anything down in the potatoes and up Garrett, and then your Grandfather [Rev. Jonas] Clarke sent down men with carts, took your Mother [Betty's sister] and all the children but Jonas and me and Sally a Babe six months old... [I]n the afternoon, Father, Mother with me and the Baby went to the Meeting House, there was eight men that was killed, seven of them my Father's parishioners, one from Woburn, all in Boxes made of four large Boards Nailed up and, after Pa had prayed, they were put into two horse carts and took into the grave yard where your Grandfather and some of the Neighbors had made a large trench, as near the Woods as possible and there we followed the bodies of those first slain, Father, Mother, I and the Baby, there I stood and there I saw them let down into the ground, it was a little rainy but we waited to see them Covered up with the Clods and then for fear the British should find them, my Father thought some of the men had best Cut some pine or oak bows and spread them on their place of burial so that it looked like a heap of Brush....

Unfortunately, the graphic cannot be edited at this time. We apologize for the confusion.

Occupation

Comment by Coaster | 04/19/2008

I wonder why few have commented on our Revolutionary Origins as an effort to end the British Occupation and its parallel in our futile efforts in the Middle East/Iraq, etc. Are we the "Redcoats" there? And why don't we learn from our own history?

Reasons for the raid on Concord

Comment by D.Hobson | 04/19/2009

Has anyone considered the reference in Hugh Bicheno's book "Rebels and REdcoats" to the presence of three 24-pound seige cannons at Concord? If Bicheno is correct then the history of the events of 19th of April, 1775 ought to be rewritten. The presence of those guns would explain the hazardous march of the regulars from Boston in the first place. It would explain the orders from London to take action. It would also explain why the "patriots" were so well organized or needed to be so well organized. It would explain the need to stop the troops from advancing on Concord at all costs. It turns a gallant affair into a rather tawdry one with the implication that the guns were "lent" by the French to encourage rebellion/treason.
Maybe it's time to take a second long look at the events of that day.
D. Hobson

Reasons for the raid on Concord

Comment by LeoI | 04/23/2011

Do you mean "Concord Hymn"? 'The Yeoman's Gazette' (Concord MA) for April 19, 1836 records: "Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson, of our community, was called on to speak about the farmers from this neighborhood who took up arms and assembled at the old bridge, with their flag flying. That the sounds of the shot they had fired off were carried all around the world. Mr. Emerson said his poem was to be known as the Concord Hymn, and that it was to be sung [to the Hymn Tune 'Old Hundredth'] to celebrate the completion of the battle monument." Leo Collins, Archivist, First Church in Boston, 1630
-------------------------
Leo Collins

Moment Audio

Play

Download

On this day in 1775, the first shots were fired in the cause of American independence. In Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous poem, "the shot heard 'round the world" came from the musket of a Concord militiaman. In reality, the first blood was shed hours before the Redcoats reached the Old North Bridge. The confrontation on Lexington Common between 77 militiamen and nearly ten times that number of British Regulars ended with the death of eight Lexington men. The Redcoats moved on to Concord. When they got there, they found several thousand farmer-soldiers who had already heard of the bloodshed at Lexington. With their nerves steeled, the Americans drove the Redcoats back to Boston and placed the city under siege. The Revolution had begun.

Only 77 of the 120 Lexington militiamen had time to arrive and form two meager lines before the Redcoats burst upon the scene.

Ralph Waldo Emerson immortalized the musket fire at the Old North Bridge in Concord as "the shot heard 'round the world," the event that marked the beginning of the War for Independence. But the first shot on April 19, 1775, was not in fact fired in Concord but hours earlier on the Town Green at Lexington. The man who most likely triggered the fighting that day was not one of Emerson's "embattled farmers" but an impetuous youth from Lexington.

Neither the captain of the Lexington militia nor the British commanding officer wanted bloodshed that morning. Not so the fiery patriot Sam Adams. Hearing gunfire, he was said to rejoice at the sound; he knew that the events unfolding on the town Common were almost certain to start the war he and other radical revolutionaries desperately wanted.

It was the presence of Adams and John Hancock in Lexington that first brought out the Lexington militia. Returning from a market trip to Boston on the evening of the 18th, Solomon Brown, the 18-year-old son of a prominent Lexington farmer, overtook a dozen men on horseback loitering along the main road. As he passed them, the wind blew their overcoats open; he saw that they were British officers and that they were armed. Solomon Brown knew that Adams and Hancock – already considered traitors by the British – were staying with Jonas Clarke, the Lexington minister, and he feared the Redcoats were on their way to seize the Patriot leaders.

"You'll have noise enough before long! The Regulars are coming out!"

Young Brown rode on to Lexington, passed his own house on the main road, and continued to the Munroe Tavern. Tavern keeper William Munroe was orderly sergeant in the militia; he immediately dispatched men to stand guard at the minister's house. Several others, including young Solomon Brown, set out to trail the British officers as they passed through town.

Rumors quickly spread that something was afoot, and militiamen began to gather around the Common and at Buckman's Tavern just off the Green. Militia units from towns all over Massachusetts had been preparing for the past eight months for a strike by British troops. On the night of April 18th, the people of Lexington believed the moment had arrived.

It was near midnight when Paul Revere galloped down the main road, through the village center, and up to the door of Reverend Jonas Clarke. As he loudly demanded to see Adams and Hancock, one of the guards stationed there hushed him, saying that the family had gone to bed and his noise would disturb them. "Noise?!" he is reported to have exclaimed. "You'll have noise enough before long! The Regulars are coming out!" Hancock opened the front shutters and called down, "Come in, Revere, we are not afraid of you."

While the men at the parsonage debated what to do, Revere left to alarm Concord. He would not make it. Shortly after he rode out of Lexington village, he fell into the hands of British sentries – the same guards who earlier captured Solomon Brown as he attempted to spy on them. Brown later testified that he was held until 2 a.m., searched, questioned, taunted by the soldiers, and then released. The young man and a companion headed across the open fields and made their way back to Lexington. But the excitement that night was far from over.

As soon as Revere arrived with news of the British approach, church bells began ringing, summoning militiamen from all corners of the town. The Lexington captain, John Parker, was a seasoned soldier and a man respected for his sound judgment. He decided that his men should conceal themselves, not confronting the Redcoats unless the soldiers threatened their homes or families. Then, since the night was cold and Parker's lookouts had not returned with reports of advancing troops, the captain sent his men to find shelter in homes around the Common. Most went to Buckman's Tavern. They were unaware that most of the lookouts had been captured and that British Regulars were advancing steadily towards Lexington.

Just before dawn, one of Parker's lookouts raced up to the tavern, bringing news that a column of 700 British Redcoats was no more than half a mile from the center of town. Parker ordered his drummer to beat the call to arms. The British regiment was just passing Solomon Brown's house when they heard the battle summons. The sound confirmed for them rumors they had heard on the march west from Boston that thousands of angry colonists were massing, readying to confront and slaughter them. Their commanding officer ordered the men to stop and load their muskets, then advance at double step. The soldiers complied, uncertain what they would meet as they rounded the bend to Lexington Common.

Only 77 of the 120 Lexington militiamen had time to arrive and form two meager lines before the Redcoats burst upon the scene. The two sides nervously — and briefly — faced each other, until British Major John Pitcairn ordered the Lexington men to drop their weapons and retreat. Captain Parker, seeing that his men were hopelessly outnumbered, ordered them to disband. But as they turned to disperse, a shot rang out. The normally disciplined Regulars ignored Major Pitcairn's frantic demands to cease firing. As they retreated across the Common, eight Lexington men were killed and nine injured – many shot in the back.

The British soldiers gathered for a victory cheer, then continued on the road to Concord in search of munitions that had been stored there.

No one knows for sure who fired the shot that incited the Redcoats. Solomon Brown later told a companion that he had stood outside Buckman's Tavern, taken aim at an enemy officer, and fired. Later that day, he brought his friend to the spot where the officer had been standing. Two pools of blood lay on the ground.

The British soldiers gathered for a victory cheer, then continued on the road to Concord in search of munitions that had been stored there. But their actions on Lexington Common had already determined their fate. The rumors they had heard of thousands of colonists converging on Concord were true; the alarm had spread to towns across Massachusetts. Over 3,500 militiamen met the Redcoats at the Old North Bridge and inflicted heavy casualties before forcing them back to Boston. The next day, the city was under siege.

Legend has it that Sam Adams, hearing the musket fire on the Common as he and Hancock left Lexington for safer quarters, commented that it was a fine morning. An irritated Hancock responded that he did not find the weather at all to his liking. Adams replied, "It is a fine morning for America." Both men undoubtedly knew that the shot fired that morning on Lexington Common had started a revolution.

On this day in 1901, the City of Boston officially celebrated Evacuation Day for the first time. In early March of 1776, Continental troops managed to move heavy cannon to the top of Dorchester Heights....

Mass Moments is a project of Mass Humanities, whose mission is to support programs that use history, literature, philosophy, and the other humanities disciplines to enhance and improve civic life throughout the Commonwealth.